Qui Tam Whistleblowers

Qui tam lawsuits are a type of civil lawsuit that individuals bring under the U.S. False Claims Act, which is a federal law that rewards whistleblowers if their qui tam case recovers money for the federal government. The State of California also has a similar False Claims Act law in place. These types of cases are a mechanism that enables people just like you to help stop government waste and protect tax payers from fraudulent practices that affect all Americans. Both Federal law and California law encourages people to report misconduct and provide protections against retaliation – including from your employer.

Typical Qui tam Cases

We primarily see qui tam cases in cases regarding Medicare and Medicaid fraud, defense contractor fraud, taxpayer fraud (primarily by large corporations) and higher education fraud (primarily by for-profit colleges and trade schools who receive federal student loan money).

1. You work for a defense contractor who is billing the government for work that is either not being done, or is not being completed as promised.
2. You work for a company that sells a specific item to the government. The company charges the government for the product at a certain price because of the parts used to make the item, but in reality the company is using cheaper parts and not telling the government so they can keep the extra money.
3. You work for a hospital that is up-coding billing records in order to receive a greater reimbursement rate from the government.
4. You work at a for-profit school that receives federal funds (Title IV) and it pays (incentives) to its enrollment advisors based upon the number of students enrolled in the school.
5. You work at a bank or financial services firm and are told to help customers with transferring their money to foreign countries in order to save on paying taxes.
6. You work at a company that cheats on its taxes.
7. You work at a company that is making false and misleading statements about a product.

Why should I be a Whistleblower in a Qui Tam Action?

A successful whistleblower can receive substantial monetary awards, sometimes many millions of dollars. In general, a successful whistleblower will receive somewhere between 15% and 30% of the total recovery received by the Federal or State government. Please call our office to discuss these issues in more detail.

Some recent whistleblower cases have resulted in significant settlements nationwide:

• Extendicare Heath Services Inc. and its subsidiary Progressive Step Corporation agreed to pay a settlement of $38 million to the federal government and 8 states for allegations of billing Medicare and Medicaid for substandard elder care. (Lawyersandsettlements.com)
• Virginia based telecommunications services provider DRS Technical Services Inc. agreed to pay $13.7 million to settle charges it violated the False Claims Act by overbilling the government for work performed by DRS personnel who lacked the job qualifications required by the company’s government contract. (whistleblower-insider.com)
• Episcopal Ministries to the Aging Inc. agreed to pay $1.3 million for allegedly causing submission of claims for unreasonable or unnecessary rehabilitation therapy at skilled nursing facility. (www.justice.gov)
• Community Health Systems (CHS), the nation’s largest operator of acute care hospitals, agreed to pay $98 million to resolve multiple whistleblower lawsuits alleging the company billed government health care programs for inpatient services that should have been billed as outpatient or observation services. (www.whistleblower-insider.com)
• University of Phoenix, one of the nation’s largest online university agreed to pay the United States government $67.5 million to resolve allegations that its student recruitment policies violated the False Claims Act. The case began as a whistleblower action filed in the Eastern District of California under the False Claims Act. The two whistleblowers will receive $19 million from the settlement. (http://www.justice.gov)

We offer free, no obligation consultations in qui tam cases. All calls are confidential, so you have nothing to lose.